By Jessica Taloney Reporter
Published: Thu, March 27, 2008 - 5:15 pm
Last Updated: Sat, March 29, 2008 - 7:01 pm
Last Updated: Sat, March 29, 2008 - 7:01 pm
Jessica Taloney
Dynesha and Dykesha Harris, both 17, were arrested after school officials say they got in altercation with two other students, whose names have not been released.
Investigators say a teacher trying to break up the fight was injured when he was hit by a broomstick the Harris sisters were using as a weapon.
Principal Doug Estle says he saw this fight coming. Estle says the Harris kids are involved in an ongoing dispute with another family. Estle requested to transfer Dynesha and Dykesha Harris last summer after their brother was arrested for his involvement in an unrelated teacher attack in May 2007.
The transfer was stopped by Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson, who wrote letters to the Mobile County School Board, the school superintendent and the NAACP. Richardson called Estle's reason for wanting to transfer the twins "inadequate," and he said it lacked substance.
Richardson refused to do an on-camera interview Wednesday, but Thursday he agreed to talk to News Five's Jessica Taloney.
"What you do for one that's fighting is the same thing you ought to do for all the kids that fight," said Richardson, who said he doesn't understand why the Harris sisters are being charged as adults.
The councilman has long been an advocate for treating all kids fairly, but he's come under fire for what some say is taking his advocacy power too far.
When we first questioned Richardson on the letters he wrote last summer he seemed to not remember them clearly.
"You wrote letters to the school board, the school superintendent, and the NAACP," said News Five's Jessica Taloney. "No, no, no, I did not, I did not," replied Richardson. But, it's unclear whether Richardson was denying all the letters or just the last one. "When I met with the superintendent about the getting the girls back in school, the NAACP president was there. I didn't invite him. The mother invited him," said Richardson. But, In a letter obtained by News Five, Richardson clearly asked NAACP President Jimmie Gardner to "look into the situation."
Richardson, Gardner, Estle and Dr. Harold Dodge, who was the superintendent at the time, met with the Harris family in August. At the meeting, it was decided that Dynesha and Dykesha would be allowed to return to Murphy.
Richardson says he's glad he intervened because he believes all kids should be allowed to go to school.
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Why was a councilperson even involved with something like this?